More than thirty members of Halifax’s 2014 Commonwealth Games bid committee are in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games, including former Nova Scotia premier John Hamm and Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly. The contingent includes 17 experts from various backgrounds, including communications, transportation, and engineering, who tour the venues daily to gather information.
Halifax bid chairman Fred MacGillivray said Wednesday, “the whole idea of being here was to help people recognize that Halifax and Canada are serious about our bid for 2014, to let people know who we are, a little bit about what the city looks like, and meet the people we’ll hopefully be partners with”.
Halifax officials, in Melbourne for a month, have set up shop at Canada House in downtown Melbourne and will use the time to make friends with the 71 voting countries and territories, and gather information from the Melbourne Games that they can put to use, reports the Globe and Mail.
Scott Logan, CEO of Halifax 2014, said, “we don’t have all the answers and we need to do a lot of listening. It’s a very diverse member of nations and territories and we need to find out what is important to them in the Commonwealth Games”.
According to the newspaper Halifax’s bid is based on a strong focus on the athlete, with venues clustered in a relatively small area, top-notch technology, and Canada’s reputation as an excellent host of sporting events.
Plans call for a Commonwealth Park with a new stadium, a new aquatic centre, a state-of-the-art field house, and new athletes village within walking distance of the stadium.
MacGillivray says the cost of hosting the Games would be between $750 and $785 million, which the newspaper says has “ballooned” from the $500 million originally estimated.
The cost for the international bid process is yet to be determined but will run into the millions, said MacGillivray. The trip to Melbourne alone is $500,000.
Bid organizers plan to travel to and host as many of the Commonwealth countries as they can to promote Halifax’s bid. They’re allowed one visit to each country and can host each country once.
Logan said Halifax’s history, culture and First Nations people would likely be celebrated at Halifax’s 2014 Opening Ceremony.
He was impressed by Melbourne’ Opening Ceremony saying “it was co-ordinated beautifully between the inside of the stadium and the surrounding area, including the Yarra River that winds through Melbourne”. He told the Chronicle Herald “I imagined now we could use the Halifax Harbour, the bridges and the Bedford Basin in our Opening and Closing”.
Canada’s strong suit – that it has staged four successful Commonwealth Games and has technical know-how as a host – may also be a burden, MacGilliviray told the Globe and Mail. He plays down any suggestion the bid is Halifax’s to lose.
MacGillivray said, “I wouldn’t suggest we’re the front-runner. Scotland made a very good bid and the Nigerians made it clear that there has never been a previous African host”.
Glasgow and Abuja are Halifax’s competitors for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
